{"id":2423588,"date":"2025-04-15T05:57:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T09:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/barack-obama-commends-harvard-for-rejecting-attempt-to-stifle-academic-freedom-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T05:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T09:58:12","slug":"barack-obama-commends-harvard-for-rejecting-attempt-to-stifle-academic-freedom-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/barack-obama-commends-harvard-for-rejecting-attempt-to-stifle-academic-freedom-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama commends Harvard for rejecting \u2018attempt to stifle academic freedom\u2019 &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbarack-obama-commends-harvard-for-rejecting-attempt-to-stifle-academic-freedom-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2423588&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former President Barack obama praised Harvard University for its decision to reject demands from the Trump administration related to alleged antisemitism on campus,which the administration linked to federal funding. The university faced the threat of losing over $2 billion in federal grants if it did not comply with these demands. Harvard&#8217;s lawyers responded, stating that the government&#8217;s conditions violated the institution&#8217;s constitutional rights and compromised its independence. in a post on social media, Obama characterized the administration&#8217;s proposal as unlawful, encouraging other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-what-each-of-bidens-42-executive-orders-will-actually-do\/\" title=\"Here\u2019s What Each Of Biden\u2019s 42 Executive Orders Will Actually Do\">higher education institutions<\/a> to follow harvard&#8217;s example of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/george-washington-university-professor-accused-of-anti-semitism-says-zionism-is-a-mental-illness\/\" title=\"George Washington ... Professor Accused of Anti-Semitism Says Zionism Is a Mental Illness\">defending academic freedom<\/a>. harvard reaffirmed its commitment to fostering an environment of intellectual inquiry and mutual respect while expressing its openness to dialog regarding improvements to campus experiences.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Barack Obama commends Harvard for rejecting &lsquo;attempt to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israel-war-upenn-faculty-leaders-denounce-efforts-of-intimidation-as-donors-cut-ties\/\" title=\"UPenn faculty leaders condemn intimidation amid Israel war, donors sever ties.\">stifle academic freedom<\/a>&rsquo;&nbsp;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2091922\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Former President Barack Obama commended Harvard University on Monday night for rejecting a proposal by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>The presidential administration informed the Ivy League university to address a variety of concerns, including antisemitism on its campus, or it would lose federal funding. Lawyers for Harvard informed the administration on Monday that the university would not comply, the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reported. In response, the Trump administration promptly froze over $2 billion in federal grants to the school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3380046\/republicans-search-fresh-messaging-counter-democrats-tax-cut-attacks\/\">GOP searches for &lsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-searches-for-fresh-messaging-to-counter-democrats-tax-cut-attacks-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"GOP searches for \u2018fresh messaging\u2019 to counter Democrats\u2019 tax cut attacks - Washington Examiner\">fresh messaging&#038;rsquo<\/a>; to counter Democrats&rsquo; tax cut attacks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3380051\/oakland-mayor-race-candidates-barbara-lee-loren-taylor-final-pitch\/\">Oakland mayoral candidates deliver closing arguments to undecided voters<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3380407\/vaughn-drake-oldest-survivor-pearl-harbor-dies\/\">Oldest known military veteran survivor of Pearl Harbor attack dies at 106<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Obama applauded Harvard&rsquo;s decision with a post on X. He labeled the Trump administration&rsquo;s proposal as &ldquo;unlawful&rdquo; and an &ldquo;attempt to stifle academic freedom.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Harvard has set an example for other <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">higher-ed institutions &#038;ndash<\/a>; rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gAu9UUqgjF\">https:\/\/t.co\/gAu9UUqgjF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BarackObama\/status\/1911980834048954551?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions &ndash; rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,&rdquo; Obama <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/barackobama\/status\/1911980834048954551?s=46\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s hope other institutions follow suit.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Obama&rsquo;s words echo the sentiments of Harvard University and its lawyers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Monday, lawyers <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/education\/3379740\/harvard-rejects-trump-administration-demands-combat-antisemitism\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claimed<\/a> that linking federal funding to requests to curb antisemitism, and the administration&rsquo;s other requests, violated the college&rsquo;s constitutional rights. Harvard cited the initial communication from March by the Trump administration requesting the changes.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The government&rsquo;s terms also circumvent Harvard&rsquo;s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law,&rdquo; Harvard&rsquo;s lawyers <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/research-funding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/04\/Harvard-Response-2025-04-14.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>. &ldquo;No less objectionable is the condition, first made explicit in the letter of March 31, 2025, that Harvard accede to these terms or risk the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding critical to vital research and innovation that has saved and improved lives and allowed Harvard to play a central role in making our country&rsquo;s scientific, medical, and other research communities the standard-bearers for the world.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>They also emphasized that the Ivy League institution would not abandon its principles and &ldquo;surrender its independence&rdquo; by acquiescing to the federal government&rsquo;s demands.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,&rdquo; read the letter. &ldquo;Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government&rsquo;s terms as an agreement in principle.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community,&rdquo; lawyers emphasized in the communication to the Trump administration. &ldquo;But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Obama has regularly opposed the Trump administration&rsquo;s policy proposals and political platform. In a recent appearance at Hamilton College, the 44th president was critical of Trump, blasting his actions and encouraging <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/barackobama.medium.com\/conversation-at-hamilton-college-0c44228ac0bd\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">people<\/a> to stand up for their beliefs. He also cited an erosion of democratic ideals, a problem that needs fixing.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is up to all of us to fix this, Obama <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/barackobama.medium.com\/conversation-at-hamilton-college-0c44228ac0bd\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to be because somebody comes and saves you. The most important office in this democracy is the citizen, the ordinary person who says, no, that&rsquo;s not right. I do think one of the reasons that our commitment to democratic ideals has eroded is that we got pretty comfortable and complacent.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2091922\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2091922\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barack Obama praises Harvard for resisting an &#8216;attempt to stifle academic freedom&#8217; by the Trump administration, which threatened federal funding over concerns like campus antisemitism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2423589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Barack-Obama-uuj4.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[42513,32724,6371,6240,32076],"class_list":["post-2423588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-academic-freedom","tag-barack-obama","tag-censorship","tag-harvard","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Barack-Obama-uuj4.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2423588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2423592,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423588\/revisions\/2423592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2423589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2423588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2423588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2423588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}